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Report: Google Eyes Kansas for Data Center

UPDATE:The reports by NPR and local media of a possible Google data center in Greensburg, Kansas are not accurate, according to Google. “Currently we are not planning on building a facility in this area,” said Google spokesperson Sunny Gettinger. “As a company, we are committed to continuing to look for ways to improve our energy efficiency and to be greener as a company, including exploring wind powered options, but have nothing to announce at this time.”

There are reports tonight that Google is exploring a wind-powered data center project in a Kansas town that was destroyed by a tornado earlier this year. Officials in Greensburg, Kansas are seeking to rebuild their community as the “greenest town in America.” An architect working to help rebuild the town says Google is studying a site in Greensburg as a potential location for a 20-megawatt windmill-powered data center.

On May 4, an F5 tornado destroyed 95 percent of the structures in Greensburg, killing 10 people and displacing more than 1,400 residents. In the wake of the disaster, local non-profit group Greensburg GreenTown is leading an effort to rebuild using eco-friendly construction. On Dec. 17, Greensburg adopted a resolution for city owned buildings to be built to the LEED Platinum standard, the highest rating of the U.S. Green Buildings Council.

BNIM Architects told local media that Google is considering building a 20 megawatt wind-powered data center in Greensburg. Bob Berkebile, a partner with Kansas city-based BNIM, said Google is “currently doing feasibility studies on the possibility” of a Greensburg location. Reports of Google’s interest have also been mentioned in an NPR report (link via ServerSpecs).

Google’s interest in wind power is well-documented. The company is currently using a windmill farm to provide some of the energy to power its data center facility in the Netherlands. A portion of the electricity for Google’s Council Bluffs, Iowa data center comes from windmills operated by MidAmerican Energy.

Google has sought a leadership role in clean energy and energy efficiency. In early 2007 the company announced that it would be carbon neutral for 2007 and beyond, and says it is “on track to meet this goal.” It also co-founded an industry consortium, the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, to advocate for “less wasteful computing infrastructure” such as high-efficiency power supplies. Last month Google announced RE-C, an initiative to develop electricity from renewable sources cheaper than electricity produced from coal. The project’s initial focus is on advanced solar thermal power, wind power technologies and geothermal systems.

A wind-powered data center facility in the U.S. could provide a testbed for new technologies. Google’s foundation, Google.org, is working with Makani Power, a California company seeking to harness high-altitude wind energy to produce cheap renewable energy.

Any development projects in Greensburg could gain considerable goodwill and visibility. The Discovery Channel’s new Planet Green channel will feature Greensburg in a new program called “Greensburg Eco-Town,” which will document the town’s efforts to rebuild from the tornado. The show is being produced by actor Leonardo DiCaprio and his production company, Appian Way.

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About the Author

Rich Miller is the founder and editor at large of Data Center Knowledge, and has been reporting on the data center sector since 2000. He has tracked the growing impact of high-density computing on the power and cooling of data centers, and the resulting push for improved energy efficiency in these facilities.

Healthcare technology company Cerner Corporation is building a 135,000 square foot center in Kansas City, a growing market for data centers.
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2 Comments

Frank A. ColuccioDecember 29, 2007 at 12:37 pm

Rich, thanks for exposing this story concerning Google's purported intentions in Kansas, and more importantly, thanks for all of the excellent reporting you've been doing on data centers, in general. I reposted your account of this story to my forum on Silicon Investor and added an exordium in brackets [FAC .. ] in which I briefly discussed underground (and hardened) telco central offices of yore, which you and others here might find interesting: http://tinyurl.com/39w5qz
To the point of hardened underground data centers, however, I've not seen much, if any, verbiage on the topic either here or in other trade press, although I did take special note of your story of yesterday concerning a rooftop implementation, which I thought was rather intriguing and a possible fit for localities that are relatively free of the problems cited in the Greensburg story and could also, possibly, lead to other innovative possibilities, as well.
But what about underground data centers? Do you or any of your readers have any thoughts on the subject?
Cheers!

Frank,
We've actually written quite a bit about underground data centers this year, as this has been a growing trend within the industry. Check out this post for a list of eight or nine providers targeting this niche:
http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2007/Dec/11/ozark_mountain_data_bunker_gets_tenant.html
or
http://tinyurl.com/2zsjbf

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